Our text follows in the main the
transcript
by Mrs.
Shelley copy
, Clarendon Press, 1903.
See
Editor's Prefatory Note, above.
1.
Act 1, line 204. B. has--shaken in pencil above--peopled.
2.
Hark that outcry, etc. (1 553. )
All editions read Mark that outcry, etc. As Shelley nowhere else uses
Mark in the sense of List, I have adopted Hark, the reading of B.
3.
Gleamed in the night. I wandered, etc. (1 770. )
Forman proposes to delete the period at night.
4.
But treads with lulling footstep, etc. (1 774. )
Forman prints killing--a misreading of B. Editions 1820, 1839 read silent.
5.
. . . the eastern star looks white, etc. (1 825. )
B. reads wan for white.
6.
Like footsteps of weak melody, etc. (2 1 89. )
B. reads far (above a cancelled lost) for weak.
7.
And wakes the destined soft emotion,--
Attracts, impels them; (2 2 50, 51. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads destined soft emotion, Attracts, etc. ;
"Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition reads destined: soft emotion
Attracts, etc. "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition reads destined, soft
emotion Attracts, etc. Forman and Dowden place a period, and Woodberry a
semicolon, at destined (line 50).
8.
There steams a plume-uplifting wind, etc. (2 2 53. )
Here steams is found in B. , in the editio princeps (1820) and in the 1st
edition of "Poetical Works", 1839. In the 2nd edition, 1839, streams
appears--no doubt a misprint overlooked by the editress.
9.
Sucked up and hurrying: as they fleet, etc. (2 2 60. )
So "Poetical Works", 1839, both editions. The editio princeps (1820)
reads hurrying as, etc.
10.
See'st thou shapes within the mist? (2 3 50. )
So B. , where these words are substituted for the cancelled I see thin
shapes within the mist of the editio princeps (1820). 'The credit of
discovering the true reading belongs to Zupitza' (Locock).
11.
2 4 12-18. The construction is faulty here, but the sense, as Professor
Woodberry observes, is clear.
12.
. . . but who rains down, etc. (2 4 100. )
The editio princeps (1820) has reigns--a reading which Forman bravely
but unsuccessfully attempts to defend.
13.
Child of Light! thy limbs are burning, etc. (2 5 54. )
The editio princeps (1820) has lips for limbs, but the word membre in
Shelley's Italian prose version of these lines establishes limbs, the
reading of B. (Locock).
14.
Which in the winds and on the waves doth move, (2 5 96. )
The word and is Rossetti's conjectural emendation, adopted by Forman and
Dowden. Woodberry unhappily observes that 'the emendation corrects a
faultless line merely to make it agree with stanzaic structure, and. . . is
open to the gravest doubt. ' Rossetti's conjecture is fully established
by the authority of B.
15.
3 4 172-174. The editio princeps (1820) punctuates:
mouldering round
These imaged to the pride of kings and priests,
A dark yet mighty faith, a power, etc.
This punctuation is retained by Forman and Dowden; that of our text is
Woodberry's.
16.
3 4 180, 188. A dash has been introduced at the close of these two lines
to indicate the construction more clearly. And for the sake of clearness
a note of interrogation has been substituted for the semicolon of 1820
after Passionless (line 198).
17.
Where lovers catch ye by your loose tresses; (4 107. )
B. has sliding for loose (cancelled).
18.
By ebbing light into her western cave, (4 208. )
Here light is the reading of B. for night (all editions). Mr. Locock
tells us that the anticipated discovery of this reading was the origin
of his examination of the Shelley manuscripts at the Bodleian. In
printing night Marchant's compositor blundered; yet 'we cannot wish the
fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. '
19.
Purple and azure, white, and green, and golden, (4 242. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads white, green and golden, etc. --white
and green being Rossetti's emendation, adopted by Forman and Dowden.
Here again--cf. note on (17) above--Prof. Woodberry commits himself by
stigmatizing the correction as one 'for which there is no authority in
Shelley's habitual versification. ' Rossetti's conjecture is confirmed by
the reading of B. , white and green, etc.
20.
Filling the abyss with sun-like lightenings, (4 276. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads lightnings, for which Rossetti
substitutes lightenings--a conjecture described by Forman as 'an example
of how a very slight change may produce a very calamitous result. ' B.
however supports Rossetti, and in point of fact Shelley usually wrote
lightenings, even where the word counts as a dissyllable (Locock).
21.
Meteors and mists, which throng air's solitudes:-- (4 547. )
For throng (cancelled) B. reads feed, i. e. , 'feed on' (cf. Pasturing
flowers of vegetable fire, 3 4 110)--a reading which carries on the
metaphor of line 546 (ye untameable herds), and ought, perhaps, to be
adopted into the text.
22.
PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS.
The punctuation of our text is that of the editio princeps (1820),
except in the places indicated in the following list, which records in
each instance the pointing of 1820:--
Act 1. --empire. 15; O, 17; God 144; words 185; internally. 299; O, 302;
gnash 345; wail 345; Sufferer 352; agony. 491; Between 712; cloud 712;
vale 826.
Act 2:
Scene 1. --air 129; by 153; fire, 155.
Scene 2. --noonday, 25; hurrying 60.
Scene 3. --mist. 50.
Scene 4. --sun, 4; Ungazed 5; on 103; ay 106; secrets. 115.
Scene 5. --brightness 67.
Act 3:
Scene 3. --apparitions, 49; beauty, 51; phantoms, (omit parentheses) 52;
reality, 53; wind 98.
Scene 4. --toil 109; fire. 110; feel; 114; borne; 115; said 124;
priests, 173; man, 180; hate, 188; Passionless; 198.
Act 4. --dreams, 66; be. 165; light. 168; air, 187; dreams, 209; woods 211;
thunder-storm, 215; lie 298; bones 342; blending. 343; mire. 349;
pass, 371; kind 385; move. 387.
THE CENCI.
1.
The deed he saw could not have rated higher
Than his most worthless life:-- (1 1 24, 25. )
Than is Mrs. Shelley's emendation (1839) for That, the word in the
editio princeps (1819) printed in Italy, and in the (standard) edition
of 1821. The sense is: 'The crime he witnessed could not have proved
costlier to redeem than his murder has proved to me. '
2.
And but that there yet remains a deed to act, etc. (1 1 100. )
Read: And but : that there yet : remains : etc.
3.
1 1 111-113. The earliest draft of these lines appears as a tentative
fragment in the Bodleian manuscript of "Prince Athanase" (vid. supr. ).
In the Bodleian manuscript of "Prometheus Unbound" they reappear (after
2 4 27) in a modified shape, as follows:--
Or looks which tell that while the lips are calm
And the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within
Tears like the sanguine sweat of agony;
Here again, however, the passage is cancelled, once more to reappear in
its final and most effective shape in "The Cenci" (Locock).
4.
And thus I love you still, but holily,
Even as a sister or a spirit might; (1 2 24, 25. )
For this, the reading of the standard edition (1821), the editio
princeps has, And yet I love, etc. , which Rossetti retains. If yet be
right, the line should be punctuated:--
And yet I love you still,--but holily,
Even as a sister or a spirit might;
5.
What, if we,
The desolate and the dead, were his own flesh,
His children and his wife, etc. (1 3 103-105. )
For were (104) Rossetti cj. are or wear. Wear is a plausible emendation,
but the text as it stands is defensible.
6.
But that no power can fill with vital oil
That broken lamp of flesh. (3 2 17, 18. )
The standard text (1821) has a Shelleyan comma after oil (17), which
Forman retains. Woodberry adds a dash to the comma, thus making that
(17) a demonstrative pronoun indicating broken lamp of flesh. The
pointing of our text is that of editions 1819, 1839, But that (17) is to
be taken as a prepositional conjunction linking the dependent clause, no
power. . . lamp of flesh, to the principal sentence, So wastes. . . kindled
mine (15, 16).
7.
The following list of punctual variations indicates the places where our
pointing departs from that of the standard text of 1821, and records in
each instance the pointing of that edition:--
Act 1, Scene 2:--Ah! No, 34; Scene 3:--hope, 29; Why 44;
love 115; thou 146; Ay 146.
Act 2, Scene 1:--Ah! No, 13; Ah! No, 73; courage 80; nook 179;
Scene 2:--fire, 70; courage 152.
Act 3, Scene 1:--Why 64; mock 185; opinion 185; law 185; strange 188;
friend 222;
Scene 2:--so 3; oil, 17.
Act 4, Scene 1:--wrong 41; looked 97; child 107;
Scene 3:--What 19; father, (omit quotes) 32.
Act 5, Scene 2:--years 119;
Scene 3:--Ay, 5; Guards 94;
Scene 4:--child, 145.
THE MASK OF ANARCHY.
Our text follows in the main the transcript by Mrs. Shelley (with
additions and corrections in Shelley's hand) known as the 'Hunt
manuscript. ' For the readings of this manuscript we are indebted to Mr.
Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876. The variants of the
'Wise manuscript' (see Prefatory Note) are derived from the Facsimile
edited in 1887 for the Shelley Society by Mr. Buxton Forman.
1.
Like Eldon, an ermined gown; (4 2. )
The editio princeps (1832) has Like Lord E-- here. Lord is inserted in
minute characters in the Wise manuscript, but is rejected from our text
as having been cancelled by the poet himself in the (later) Hunt
manuscript.
2.
For he knew the Palaces
Of our Kings were rightly his; (20 1, 2. )
For rightly (Wise manuscript) the Hunt manuscript and editions 1832,
1839 have nightly which is retained by Rossetti and in Forman's text of
1876. Dowden and Woodberry print rightly which also appears in Forman's
latest text ("Aldine Shelley", 1892).
3.
In a neat and happy home. (54 4. )
For In (Wise manuscript, editions 1832, 1839) the Hunt manuscript reads
To a neat, etc. , which is adopted by Rossetti and Dowden, and appeared
in Forman's text of 1876. Woodberry and Forman (1892) print In a neat,
etc.
4.
Stanzas 70 3, 4; 71 1. These form one continuous clause in every text
save the editio princeps, 1832, where a semicolon appears after around
(70 4).
5.
Our punctuation follows that of the Hunt manuscript, save in the
following places, where a comma, wanting in the manuscript, is supplied
in the text:--gay 47; came 58; waken 122; shaken 123; call 124; number
152; dwell 163; thou 209; thee 249; fashion 287; surprise 345; free 358.
A semicolon is supplied after earth (line 131).
PETER BELL THE THIRD.
Thomas Brown, Esq. , the Younger, H. F. , to whom the "Dedication" is
addressed, is the Irish poet, Tom Moore. The letters H. F. may stand for
'Historian of the Fudges' (Garnett), Hibernicae Filius (Rossetti), or,
perhaps, Hibernicae Fidicen. Castles and Oliver (3 2 1; 7 4 4) were
government spies, as readers of Charles Lamb are aware. The allusion in
6 36 is to Wordsworth's "Thanksgiving Ode on The Battle of Waterloo",
original version, published in 1816:--
But Thy most dreaded instrument,
In working out a pure intent,
Is Man--arrayed for mutual slaughter,
--Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter!
1.
Lines 547-549 (6 18 5; 19 1, 2). These lines evidently form a continuous
clause. The full stop of the editio princeps at rocks, line 547, has
therefore been deleted, and a semicolon substituted for the original
comma at the close of line 546.
2.
'Ay--and at last desert me too. ' (line 603. )
Rossetti, who however follows the editio princeps, saw that these words
are spoken--not by Peter to his soul, but--by his soul to Peter, by way
of rejoinder to the challenge of lines 600-602:--'And I and you, My
dearest Soul, will then make merry, As the Prince Regent did with
Sherry. ' In order to indicate this fact, inverted commas are inserted at
the close of line 602 and the beginning of line 603.
3.
The punctuation of the editio princeps, 1839, has been throughout
revised, but--with the two exceptions specified in notes (1) and (2)
above--it seemed an unprofitable labour to record the particular
alterations, which serve but to clarify--in no instance to modify--the
sense as indicated by Mrs. Shelley's punctuation.
LETTER TO MARIA GISBORNE.
Our text mainly follows Mrs. Shelley's transcript, for the readings of
which we are indebted to Mr. Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the
Poems, 1876. The variants from Shelley's draft are supplied by Dr.
Garnett.
1.
Lines 197-201. These lines, which are wanting in editions 1824 and 1839
(1st edition), are supplied from Mrs. Shelley's transcript and from
Shelley's draft (Boscombe manuscript). In the 2nd edition of 1839 the
following lines appear in their place:--
Your old friend Godwin, greater none than he;
Though fallen on evil times, yet will he stand,
Among the spirits of our age and land,
Before the dread tribunal of To-come
The foremost, whilst rebuke stands pale and dumb.
2.
Line 296. The names in this line are supplied from the two manuscripts.
In the "Posthumous Poems" of 1824 the line appears:--Oh! that H-- -- and
-- were there, etc.
3.
The following list gives the places where the pointing of the text
varies from that of Mrs. Shelley's transcript as reported by Mr. Buxton
Forman, and records in each case the pointing of that original:--Turk
26; scorn 40; understood, 49; boat-- 75; think, 86; believe; 158; are;
164; fair 233; cameleopard; 240; Now 291.
THE WITCH OF ATLAS.
1.
The following list gives the places where our text departs from the
pointing of the editio princeps ("Dedication", 1839; "Witch of Atlas",
1824), and records in each case the original pointing:--
DEDIC. --pinions, 14; fellow, 41; Othello, 45.
WITCH OF ATLAS. --bliss; 164; above. 192; gums 258; flashed 409;
sunlight, 409; Thamondocana. 424; by. 432; engraven. 448; apart, 662;
mind! 662.
EPIPSYCHIDION.
1.
The following list gives the places where our text departs from the
pointing of the editio princeps, 1821, with the original point in each
case:--love, 44; pleasure; 68; flowing 96; where! 234; passed 252;
dreamed, 278; Night 418; year), 440; children, 528.
ADONAIS.
1.
The following list indicates the places in which the punctuation of this
edition departs from that of the editio princeps, of 1821, and records
in each instance the pointing of that text:--thou 10; Oh 19; apace, 65;
Oh 73; flown 138; Thou 142; Ah 154; immersed 167; corpse 172; tender
172; his 193; they 213; Death 217; Might 218; bow, 249; sighs 314;
escape 320; Cease 366; dark 406; forth 415; dead, 440; Whilst 493.
HELLAS.
A Reprint of the original edition (1822) of "Hellas" was edited for the
Shelley Society in 1887 by Mr. Thomas J. Wise. In Shelley's list of
Dramatis Personae the Phantom of Mahomet the Second is wanting.
Shelley's list of Errata in edition 1822 was first printed in Mr. Buxton
Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876 (4 page 572). These errata
are silently corrected in the text.
1.
For Revenge and Wrong bring forth their kind, etc. (lines 728-729. )
'"For" has no rhyme (unless "are" and "despair" are to be considered
such): it requires to rhyme with "hear. " From this defect of rhyme, and
other considerations, I (following Mr. Fleay) used to consider it almost
certain that "Fear" ought to replace "For"; and I gave "Fear" in my
edition of 1870. . . However, the word in the manuscript ["Williams
transcript"] is "For," and Shelley's list of errata leaves this
unaltered--so we must needs abide by it. '--Rossetti, "Complete Poetical
Works of P. B. S. ", edition 1878 (3 volumes), 2 page 456.
2.
Lines 729-732. This quatrain, as Dr. Garnett ("Letters of Shelley",
1884, pages 166, 249) points out, is an expansion of the following lines
from the "Agamemmon" of Aeschylus (758-760), quoted by Shelley in a
letter to his wife, dated 'Friday, August 10, 1821':--
to dussebes--
meta men pleiona tiktei,
sphetera d' eikota genna.
3.
Lines 1091-1093. This passage, from the words more bright to the close
of line 1093, is wanting in the editio princeps, 1822, its place being
supplied by asterisks. The lacuna in the text is due, no doubt, to the
timidity of Ollier, the publisher, whom Shelley had authorised to make
excisions from the notes. In "Poetical Works", 1839, the lines, as they
appear in our text, are restored; in Galignani's edition of "Coleridge,
Shelley, and Keats" (Paris, 1829), however, they had already appeared,
though with the substitution of wise for bright (line 1091), and of
unwithstood for unsubdued (line 1093). Galignani's reading--native for
votive--in line 1095 is an evident misprint. In Ascham's edition of
Shelley (2 volumes, fcp. 8vo. , 1834), the passage is reprinted from
Galignani.
4.
The following list shows the places in which our text departs from the
punctuation of the editio princeps, 1822, and records in each instance
the pointing of that edition:--dreams 71; course. 125; mockery 150;
conqueror 212; streams 235; Moslems 275; West 305; moon, 347; harm, 394;
shame, 402; anger 408; descends 447; crime 454; banner. 461; Phanae,
470; blood 551; tyrant 557; Cydaris, 606; Heaven 636; Highness 638; man
738; sayest 738; One 768; mountains 831; dust 885; consummation? 902;
dream 921; may 923; death 935; clime. 1005; feast, 1025; horn, 1032;
Noon, 1045; death 1057; dowers 1094.
CHARLES THE FIRST.
To Mr. Rossetti we owe the reconstruction of this fragmentary drama out
of materials partly published by Mrs. Shelley in 1824, partly recovered
from manuscript by himself. The bracketed words are, presumably,
supplied by Mr. Rossetti to fill actual lacunae in the manuscript; those
queried represent indistinct writing. Mr. Rossetti's additions to the
text are indicated in the footnotes. In one or two instances Mr. Forman
and Dr. Garnett have restored the true reading. The list of Dramatis
Personae is Mr. Forman's.
THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE.
1.
Lines 131-135. This grammatically incoherent passage is thus
conjecturally emended by Rossetti:--
Fled back like eagles to their native noon;
For those who put aside the diadem
Of earthly thrones or gems. . . ,
Whether of Athens or Jerusalem,
Were neither mid the mighty captives seen, etc.
In the case of an incomplete poem lacking the author's final
corrections, however, restoration by conjecture is, to say the least of
it, gratuitous.
2.
Line 282. The words, 'Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs. ' And
then--are wanting in editions 1824, 1839, and were recovered by Dr.
Garnett from the Boscombe manuscript. Mrs. Shelley's note here
runs:--'There is a chasm here in the manuscript which it is impossible
to fill. It appears from the context that other shapes pass and that
Rousseau still stood beside the dreamer. ' Mr. Forman thinks that the
'chasm' is filled up by the words restored from the manuscript by Dr.
Garnett. Mr. A. C. Bradley writes: 'It seems likely that, after writing
"I have suffered. . . pain", Shelley meant to strike out the words between
"known" [276] and "I" [278], and to fill up the gap in such a way that
"I" would be the last word of the line beginning "May well be known". '
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
1.
TO --. Mrs. Shelley tentatively assigned this fragment to 1817. 'It
seems not improbable that it was addressed at this time [June, 1814] to
Mary Godwin. ' Dowden, "Life", 1 422, Woodberry suggests that 'Harriet
answers as well, or better, to the situation described. '
2.
ON DEATH. These stanzas occur in the Esdaile manuscript along with
others which Shelley intended to print with "Queen Mab" in 1813; but the
text was revised before publication in 1816.
3.
TO --. 'The poem beginning "Oh, there are spirits in the air," was
addressed in idea to Coleridge, whom he never knew'--writes Mrs.
Shelley. Mr. Bertram Dobell, Mr. Rossetti and Professor Dowden, however,
incline to think that we have here an address by Shelley in a despondent
mood to his own spirit.
4.
LINES. These appear to be antedated by a year, as they evidently allude
to the death of Harriet Shelley in November, 1816.
5.
ANOTHER FRAGMENT TO MUSIC. To Mr. Forman we owe the restoration of the
true text here--'food of Love. ' Mrs. Shelley printed 'god of Love. '
6.
MARENGHI, lines 92, 93. The 1870 (Rossetti) version of these lines is:--
White bones, and locks of dun and yellow hair,
And ringed horns which buffaloes did wear--
The words locks of dun (line 92) are cancelled in the manuscript.
Shelley's failure to cancel the whole line was due, Mr. Locock rightly
argues, to inadvertence merely; instead of buffaloes the manuscript
gives the buffalo, and it supplies the 'wonderful line' (Locock) which
closes the stanza in our text, and with which Mr. Locock aptly compares
"Mont Blanc", line 69:--
Save when the eagle brings some hunter's bone,
And the wolf tracks her there.
7.
ODE TO LIBERTY, lines 1, 2. On the suggestion of his brother, Mr. Alfred
Forman, the editor of the Library Edition of Shelley's Poems (1876), Mr.
Editor's Prefatory Note, above.
1.
Act 1, line 204. B. has--shaken in pencil above--peopled.
2.
Hark that outcry, etc. (1 553. )
All editions read Mark that outcry, etc. As Shelley nowhere else uses
Mark in the sense of List, I have adopted Hark, the reading of B.
3.
Gleamed in the night. I wandered, etc. (1 770. )
Forman proposes to delete the period at night.
4.
But treads with lulling footstep, etc. (1 774. )
Forman prints killing--a misreading of B. Editions 1820, 1839 read silent.
5.
. . . the eastern star looks white, etc. (1 825. )
B. reads wan for white.
6.
Like footsteps of weak melody, etc. (2 1 89. )
B. reads far (above a cancelled lost) for weak.
7.
And wakes the destined soft emotion,--
Attracts, impels them; (2 2 50, 51. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads destined soft emotion, Attracts, etc. ;
"Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition reads destined: soft emotion
Attracts, etc. "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition reads destined, soft
emotion Attracts, etc. Forman and Dowden place a period, and Woodberry a
semicolon, at destined (line 50).
8.
There steams a plume-uplifting wind, etc. (2 2 53. )
Here steams is found in B. , in the editio princeps (1820) and in the 1st
edition of "Poetical Works", 1839. In the 2nd edition, 1839, streams
appears--no doubt a misprint overlooked by the editress.
9.
Sucked up and hurrying: as they fleet, etc. (2 2 60. )
So "Poetical Works", 1839, both editions. The editio princeps (1820)
reads hurrying as, etc.
10.
See'st thou shapes within the mist? (2 3 50. )
So B. , where these words are substituted for the cancelled I see thin
shapes within the mist of the editio princeps (1820). 'The credit of
discovering the true reading belongs to Zupitza' (Locock).
11.
2 4 12-18. The construction is faulty here, but the sense, as Professor
Woodberry observes, is clear.
12.
. . . but who rains down, etc. (2 4 100. )
The editio princeps (1820) has reigns--a reading which Forman bravely
but unsuccessfully attempts to defend.
13.
Child of Light! thy limbs are burning, etc. (2 5 54. )
The editio princeps (1820) has lips for limbs, but the word membre in
Shelley's Italian prose version of these lines establishes limbs, the
reading of B. (Locock).
14.
Which in the winds and on the waves doth move, (2 5 96. )
The word and is Rossetti's conjectural emendation, adopted by Forman and
Dowden. Woodberry unhappily observes that 'the emendation corrects a
faultless line merely to make it agree with stanzaic structure, and. . . is
open to the gravest doubt. ' Rossetti's conjecture is fully established
by the authority of B.
15.
3 4 172-174. The editio princeps (1820) punctuates:
mouldering round
These imaged to the pride of kings and priests,
A dark yet mighty faith, a power, etc.
This punctuation is retained by Forman and Dowden; that of our text is
Woodberry's.
16.
3 4 180, 188. A dash has been introduced at the close of these two lines
to indicate the construction more clearly. And for the sake of clearness
a note of interrogation has been substituted for the semicolon of 1820
after Passionless (line 198).
17.
Where lovers catch ye by your loose tresses; (4 107. )
B. has sliding for loose (cancelled).
18.
By ebbing light into her western cave, (4 208. )
Here light is the reading of B. for night (all editions). Mr. Locock
tells us that the anticipated discovery of this reading was the origin
of his examination of the Shelley manuscripts at the Bodleian. In
printing night Marchant's compositor blundered; yet 'we cannot wish the
fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. '
19.
Purple and azure, white, and green, and golden, (4 242. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads white, green and golden, etc. --white
and green being Rossetti's emendation, adopted by Forman and Dowden.
Here again--cf. note on (17) above--Prof. Woodberry commits himself by
stigmatizing the correction as one 'for which there is no authority in
Shelley's habitual versification. ' Rossetti's conjecture is confirmed by
the reading of B. , white and green, etc.
20.
Filling the abyss with sun-like lightenings, (4 276. )
The editio princeps (1820) reads lightnings, for which Rossetti
substitutes lightenings--a conjecture described by Forman as 'an example
of how a very slight change may produce a very calamitous result. ' B.
however supports Rossetti, and in point of fact Shelley usually wrote
lightenings, even where the word counts as a dissyllable (Locock).
21.
Meteors and mists, which throng air's solitudes:-- (4 547. )
For throng (cancelled) B. reads feed, i. e. , 'feed on' (cf. Pasturing
flowers of vegetable fire, 3 4 110)--a reading which carries on the
metaphor of line 546 (ye untameable herds), and ought, perhaps, to be
adopted into the text.
22.
PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS.
The punctuation of our text is that of the editio princeps (1820),
except in the places indicated in the following list, which records in
each instance the pointing of 1820:--
Act 1. --empire. 15; O, 17; God 144; words 185; internally. 299; O, 302;
gnash 345; wail 345; Sufferer 352; agony. 491; Between 712; cloud 712;
vale 826.
Act 2:
Scene 1. --air 129; by 153; fire, 155.
Scene 2. --noonday, 25; hurrying 60.
Scene 3. --mist. 50.
Scene 4. --sun, 4; Ungazed 5; on 103; ay 106; secrets. 115.
Scene 5. --brightness 67.
Act 3:
Scene 3. --apparitions, 49; beauty, 51; phantoms, (omit parentheses) 52;
reality, 53; wind 98.
Scene 4. --toil 109; fire. 110; feel; 114; borne; 115; said 124;
priests, 173; man, 180; hate, 188; Passionless; 198.
Act 4. --dreams, 66; be. 165; light. 168; air, 187; dreams, 209; woods 211;
thunder-storm, 215; lie 298; bones 342; blending. 343; mire. 349;
pass, 371; kind 385; move. 387.
THE CENCI.
1.
The deed he saw could not have rated higher
Than his most worthless life:-- (1 1 24, 25. )
Than is Mrs. Shelley's emendation (1839) for That, the word in the
editio princeps (1819) printed in Italy, and in the (standard) edition
of 1821. The sense is: 'The crime he witnessed could not have proved
costlier to redeem than his murder has proved to me. '
2.
And but that there yet remains a deed to act, etc. (1 1 100. )
Read: And but : that there yet : remains : etc.
3.
1 1 111-113. The earliest draft of these lines appears as a tentative
fragment in the Bodleian manuscript of "Prince Athanase" (vid. supr. ).
In the Bodleian manuscript of "Prometheus Unbound" they reappear (after
2 4 27) in a modified shape, as follows:--
Or looks which tell that while the lips are calm
And the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within
Tears like the sanguine sweat of agony;
Here again, however, the passage is cancelled, once more to reappear in
its final and most effective shape in "The Cenci" (Locock).
4.
And thus I love you still, but holily,
Even as a sister or a spirit might; (1 2 24, 25. )
For this, the reading of the standard edition (1821), the editio
princeps has, And yet I love, etc. , which Rossetti retains. If yet be
right, the line should be punctuated:--
And yet I love you still,--but holily,
Even as a sister or a spirit might;
5.
What, if we,
The desolate and the dead, were his own flesh,
His children and his wife, etc. (1 3 103-105. )
For were (104) Rossetti cj. are or wear. Wear is a plausible emendation,
but the text as it stands is defensible.
6.
But that no power can fill with vital oil
That broken lamp of flesh. (3 2 17, 18. )
The standard text (1821) has a Shelleyan comma after oil (17), which
Forman retains. Woodberry adds a dash to the comma, thus making that
(17) a demonstrative pronoun indicating broken lamp of flesh. The
pointing of our text is that of editions 1819, 1839, But that (17) is to
be taken as a prepositional conjunction linking the dependent clause, no
power. . . lamp of flesh, to the principal sentence, So wastes. . . kindled
mine (15, 16).
7.
The following list of punctual variations indicates the places where our
pointing departs from that of the standard text of 1821, and records in
each instance the pointing of that edition:--
Act 1, Scene 2:--Ah! No, 34; Scene 3:--hope, 29; Why 44;
love 115; thou 146; Ay 146.
Act 2, Scene 1:--Ah! No, 13; Ah! No, 73; courage 80; nook 179;
Scene 2:--fire, 70; courage 152.
Act 3, Scene 1:--Why 64; mock 185; opinion 185; law 185; strange 188;
friend 222;
Scene 2:--so 3; oil, 17.
Act 4, Scene 1:--wrong 41; looked 97; child 107;
Scene 3:--What 19; father, (omit quotes) 32.
Act 5, Scene 2:--years 119;
Scene 3:--Ay, 5; Guards 94;
Scene 4:--child, 145.
THE MASK OF ANARCHY.
Our text follows in the main the transcript by Mrs. Shelley (with
additions and corrections in Shelley's hand) known as the 'Hunt
manuscript. ' For the readings of this manuscript we are indebted to Mr.
Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876. The variants of the
'Wise manuscript' (see Prefatory Note) are derived from the Facsimile
edited in 1887 for the Shelley Society by Mr. Buxton Forman.
1.
Like Eldon, an ermined gown; (4 2. )
The editio princeps (1832) has Like Lord E-- here. Lord is inserted in
minute characters in the Wise manuscript, but is rejected from our text
as having been cancelled by the poet himself in the (later) Hunt
manuscript.
2.
For he knew the Palaces
Of our Kings were rightly his; (20 1, 2. )
For rightly (Wise manuscript) the Hunt manuscript and editions 1832,
1839 have nightly which is retained by Rossetti and in Forman's text of
1876. Dowden and Woodberry print rightly which also appears in Forman's
latest text ("Aldine Shelley", 1892).
3.
In a neat and happy home. (54 4. )
For In (Wise manuscript, editions 1832, 1839) the Hunt manuscript reads
To a neat, etc. , which is adopted by Rossetti and Dowden, and appeared
in Forman's text of 1876. Woodberry and Forman (1892) print In a neat,
etc.
4.
Stanzas 70 3, 4; 71 1. These form one continuous clause in every text
save the editio princeps, 1832, where a semicolon appears after around
(70 4).
5.
Our punctuation follows that of the Hunt manuscript, save in the
following places, where a comma, wanting in the manuscript, is supplied
in the text:--gay 47; came 58; waken 122; shaken 123; call 124; number
152; dwell 163; thou 209; thee 249; fashion 287; surprise 345; free 358.
A semicolon is supplied after earth (line 131).
PETER BELL THE THIRD.
Thomas Brown, Esq. , the Younger, H. F. , to whom the "Dedication" is
addressed, is the Irish poet, Tom Moore. The letters H. F. may stand for
'Historian of the Fudges' (Garnett), Hibernicae Filius (Rossetti), or,
perhaps, Hibernicae Fidicen. Castles and Oliver (3 2 1; 7 4 4) were
government spies, as readers of Charles Lamb are aware. The allusion in
6 36 is to Wordsworth's "Thanksgiving Ode on The Battle of Waterloo",
original version, published in 1816:--
But Thy most dreaded instrument,
In working out a pure intent,
Is Man--arrayed for mutual slaughter,
--Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter!
1.
Lines 547-549 (6 18 5; 19 1, 2). These lines evidently form a continuous
clause. The full stop of the editio princeps at rocks, line 547, has
therefore been deleted, and a semicolon substituted for the original
comma at the close of line 546.
2.
'Ay--and at last desert me too. ' (line 603. )
Rossetti, who however follows the editio princeps, saw that these words
are spoken--not by Peter to his soul, but--by his soul to Peter, by way
of rejoinder to the challenge of lines 600-602:--'And I and you, My
dearest Soul, will then make merry, As the Prince Regent did with
Sherry. ' In order to indicate this fact, inverted commas are inserted at
the close of line 602 and the beginning of line 603.
3.
The punctuation of the editio princeps, 1839, has been throughout
revised, but--with the two exceptions specified in notes (1) and (2)
above--it seemed an unprofitable labour to record the particular
alterations, which serve but to clarify--in no instance to modify--the
sense as indicated by Mrs. Shelley's punctuation.
LETTER TO MARIA GISBORNE.
Our text mainly follows Mrs. Shelley's transcript, for the readings of
which we are indebted to Mr. Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the
Poems, 1876. The variants from Shelley's draft are supplied by Dr.
Garnett.
1.
Lines 197-201. These lines, which are wanting in editions 1824 and 1839
(1st edition), are supplied from Mrs. Shelley's transcript and from
Shelley's draft (Boscombe manuscript). In the 2nd edition of 1839 the
following lines appear in their place:--
Your old friend Godwin, greater none than he;
Though fallen on evil times, yet will he stand,
Among the spirits of our age and land,
Before the dread tribunal of To-come
The foremost, whilst rebuke stands pale and dumb.
2.
Line 296. The names in this line are supplied from the two manuscripts.
In the "Posthumous Poems" of 1824 the line appears:--Oh! that H-- -- and
-- were there, etc.
3.
The following list gives the places where the pointing of the text
varies from that of Mrs. Shelley's transcript as reported by Mr. Buxton
Forman, and records in each case the pointing of that original:--Turk
26; scorn 40; understood, 49; boat-- 75; think, 86; believe; 158; are;
164; fair 233; cameleopard; 240; Now 291.
THE WITCH OF ATLAS.
1.
The following list gives the places where our text departs from the
pointing of the editio princeps ("Dedication", 1839; "Witch of Atlas",
1824), and records in each case the original pointing:--
DEDIC. --pinions, 14; fellow, 41; Othello, 45.
WITCH OF ATLAS. --bliss; 164; above. 192; gums 258; flashed 409;
sunlight, 409; Thamondocana. 424; by. 432; engraven. 448; apart, 662;
mind! 662.
EPIPSYCHIDION.
1.
The following list gives the places where our text departs from the
pointing of the editio princeps, 1821, with the original point in each
case:--love, 44; pleasure; 68; flowing 96; where! 234; passed 252;
dreamed, 278; Night 418; year), 440; children, 528.
ADONAIS.
1.
The following list indicates the places in which the punctuation of this
edition departs from that of the editio princeps, of 1821, and records
in each instance the pointing of that text:--thou 10; Oh 19; apace, 65;
Oh 73; flown 138; Thou 142; Ah 154; immersed 167; corpse 172; tender
172; his 193; they 213; Death 217; Might 218; bow, 249; sighs 314;
escape 320; Cease 366; dark 406; forth 415; dead, 440; Whilst 493.
HELLAS.
A Reprint of the original edition (1822) of "Hellas" was edited for the
Shelley Society in 1887 by Mr. Thomas J. Wise. In Shelley's list of
Dramatis Personae the Phantom of Mahomet the Second is wanting.
Shelley's list of Errata in edition 1822 was first printed in Mr. Buxton
Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876 (4 page 572). These errata
are silently corrected in the text.
1.
For Revenge and Wrong bring forth their kind, etc. (lines 728-729. )
'"For" has no rhyme (unless "are" and "despair" are to be considered
such): it requires to rhyme with "hear. " From this defect of rhyme, and
other considerations, I (following Mr. Fleay) used to consider it almost
certain that "Fear" ought to replace "For"; and I gave "Fear" in my
edition of 1870. . . However, the word in the manuscript ["Williams
transcript"] is "For," and Shelley's list of errata leaves this
unaltered--so we must needs abide by it. '--Rossetti, "Complete Poetical
Works of P. B. S. ", edition 1878 (3 volumes), 2 page 456.
2.
Lines 729-732. This quatrain, as Dr. Garnett ("Letters of Shelley",
1884, pages 166, 249) points out, is an expansion of the following lines
from the "Agamemmon" of Aeschylus (758-760), quoted by Shelley in a
letter to his wife, dated 'Friday, August 10, 1821':--
to dussebes--
meta men pleiona tiktei,
sphetera d' eikota genna.
3.
Lines 1091-1093. This passage, from the words more bright to the close
of line 1093, is wanting in the editio princeps, 1822, its place being
supplied by asterisks. The lacuna in the text is due, no doubt, to the
timidity of Ollier, the publisher, whom Shelley had authorised to make
excisions from the notes. In "Poetical Works", 1839, the lines, as they
appear in our text, are restored; in Galignani's edition of "Coleridge,
Shelley, and Keats" (Paris, 1829), however, they had already appeared,
though with the substitution of wise for bright (line 1091), and of
unwithstood for unsubdued (line 1093). Galignani's reading--native for
votive--in line 1095 is an evident misprint. In Ascham's edition of
Shelley (2 volumes, fcp. 8vo. , 1834), the passage is reprinted from
Galignani.
4.
The following list shows the places in which our text departs from the
punctuation of the editio princeps, 1822, and records in each instance
the pointing of that edition:--dreams 71; course. 125; mockery 150;
conqueror 212; streams 235; Moslems 275; West 305; moon, 347; harm, 394;
shame, 402; anger 408; descends 447; crime 454; banner. 461; Phanae,
470; blood 551; tyrant 557; Cydaris, 606; Heaven 636; Highness 638; man
738; sayest 738; One 768; mountains 831; dust 885; consummation? 902;
dream 921; may 923; death 935; clime. 1005; feast, 1025; horn, 1032;
Noon, 1045; death 1057; dowers 1094.
CHARLES THE FIRST.
To Mr. Rossetti we owe the reconstruction of this fragmentary drama out
of materials partly published by Mrs. Shelley in 1824, partly recovered
from manuscript by himself. The bracketed words are, presumably,
supplied by Mr. Rossetti to fill actual lacunae in the manuscript; those
queried represent indistinct writing. Mr. Rossetti's additions to the
text are indicated in the footnotes. In one or two instances Mr. Forman
and Dr. Garnett have restored the true reading. The list of Dramatis
Personae is Mr. Forman's.
THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE.
1.
Lines 131-135. This grammatically incoherent passage is thus
conjecturally emended by Rossetti:--
Fled back like eagles to their native noon;
For those who put aside the diadem
Of earthly thrones or gems. . . ,
Whether of Athens or Jerusalem,
Were neither mid the mighty captives seen, etc.
In the case of an incomplete poem lacking the author's final
corrections, however, restoration by conjecture is, to say the least of
it, gratuitous.
2.
Line 282. The words, 'Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs. ' And
then--are wanting in editions 1824, 1839, and were recovered by Dr.
Garnett from the Boscombe manuscript. Mrs. Shelley's note here
runs:--'There is a chasm here in the manuscript which it is impossible
to fill. It appears from the context that other shapes pass and that
Rousseau still stood beside the dreamer. ' Mr. Forman thinks that the
'chasm' is filled up by the words restored from the manuscript by Dr.
Garnett. Mr. A. C. Bradley writes: 'It seems likely that, after writing
"I have suffered. . . pain", Shelley meant to strike out the words between
"known" [276] and "I" [278], and to fill up the gap in such a way that
"I" would be the last word of the line beginning "May well be known". '
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
1.
TO --. Mrs. Shelley tentatively assigned this fragment to 1817. 'It
seems not improbable that it was addressed at this time [June, 1814] to
Mary Godwin. ' Dowden, "Life", 1 422, Woodberry suggests that 'Harriet
answers as well, or better, to the situation described. '
2.
ON DEATH. These stanzas occur in the Esdaile manuscript along with
others which Shelley intended to print with "Queen Mab" in 1813; but the
text was revised before publication in 1816.
3.
TO --. 'The poem beginning "Oh, there are spirits in the air," was
addressed in idea to Coleridge, whom he never knew'--writes Mrs.
Shelley. Mr. Bertram Dobell, Mr. Rossetti and Professor Dowden, however,
incline to think that we have here an address by Shelley in a despondent
mood to his own spirit.
4.
LINES. These appear to be antedated by a year, as they evidently allude
to the death of Harriet Shelley in November, 1816.
5.
ANOTHER FRAGMENT TO MUSIC. To Mr. Forman we owe the restoration of the
true text here--'food of Love. ' Mrs. Shelley printed 'god of Love. '
6.
MARENGHI, lines 92, 93. The 1870 (Rossetti) version of these lines is:--
White bones, and locks of dun and yellow hair,
And ringed horns which buffaloes did wear--
The words locks of dun (line 92) are cancelled in the manuscript.
Shelley's failure to cancel the whole line was due, Mr. Locock rightly
argues, to inadvertence merely; instead of buffaloes the manuscript
gives the buffalo, and it supplies the 'wonderful line' (Locock) which
closes the stanza in our text, and with which Mr. Locock aptly compares
"Mont Blanc", line 69:--
Save when the eagle brings some hunter's bone,
And the wolf tracks her there.
7.
ODE TO LIBERTY, lines 1, 2. On the suggestion of his brother, Mr. Alfred
Forman, the editor of the Library Edition of Shelley's Poems (1876), Mr.
